Editorial
July/August, 1975
Volume 10, Number 4
The theme of the 1975 Annual Conference in Dayton, Ohio is “All creation awaits.” The setting of the phrase (found in Romans 8:19) is within the framework of a future deliverance. “This present time” (Romans 8:18) is the period in which the Christians’ sufferings occur. The age to come is the age of resurrection and glory, to be revealed at Christ’s return. Paul is talking about the certainty of future salvation, but he says all nature looks forward to a time of liberation from the effects of the curse. In the mystery of God’s eternal purpose, not only will “the sons of God” receive new bodies (Romans 8:23), but there is going to be a reconstruction of the whole vast system of nature (Romans 8:21). In Philippians 3:20-21, we read that the redemption of the body (and the associated events) will occur when Jesus Christ returns. When Jesus comes back, the earth will never again be the same.
Walter Reuther spoke to a widely known evangelist nearly a decade ago. He said, “Preacher, science could bring a paradise to the earth by the year 2000.” The preacher replied, “There’s only one basic flaw. No one has fed into the computers the facts about man’s moral weakness – his tendency toward hate, lust, and greed that produces racism and crime and war and a thousand other evils.” The prophecies of the Bible do not predict a world of gradual progress toward a materialistic paradise. They see a world torn by lawlessness, war, and famine–on a scale that only God Himself can terminate.
Bible students believe that Jesus Christ is going to return to earth some day. But why is He returning? What will He do when He arrives? And how will His return affect the world? The article in this Witness shares some biblical insights on these questions. Those who truly love Jesus Christ, take the signs of His second coming seriously, and they watch with eagerness and anticipation – but that watchfulness is not in the form of calculations and time-tables, but in doing our work more zealously than before. Our work includes serving the needy neighbor as well as evangelizing the world.
–H. S. M.
Behold, the Bridegroom Cometh!
by Paul W. Brubaker
The Bride of Christ, in garments spotless, fair…
Is waiting, watching, for her coming Lord.
She knows that she will meet Him in the air…
Because she has the promise of His Word.
There are three great divisions of time…the past, the present, and the future. The past is gone…the present is a time of opportunity…and the future is hidden from our sight (except for those things revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures). In the study of future events, it is essential to grasp the fact that some things are entirely hidden from us, some things are partly revealed, and other things are clearly disclosed. Therefore none of us should assume that he knows too much (realizing that we “see through a glass darkly”), but all of us should meekly take our places as humble learners and diligent students, in faith receiving what God sees fit to reveal.
There is perhaps no subject in the Bible more difficult to unfold than Christ’s Second Coming; and perhaps no subject has been held with such differing views than this. To know the future is fascinating, but it is the life of faith that lets the future in God’s hands (without trying to solve all the mysteries which He has not chosen to reveal to us). However, God has given us enough evidence in His Word so that we can be certain about various aspects of this great future event. Let us consider several questions in relation to the subject:
1. YOU SAY YOU’RE SURE HE’S COMING?
Yes, very definitely ! The fact is mentioned so often in the New Testament that there is no teaching more clearly established than this certainty.
a. Christ has promised us that He will come again. In that paramount discourse of the Upper Room, Christ said: “If I go and prepare a place for you, I WILL COME AGAIN, and receive you unto myself” (John 14:3). In speaking to His disciples from the Mount of Olives, Christ also established this same fact (Matthew 25). Nineteen centuries have come and gone since Christ gave this promise, but the passing of time has not diminished the certainty of His coming.
b. The two men in white apparel said that He will come again. On the Mount of Ascension, two heavenly “ambassadors” assured the bewildered disciples: “Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven, SHALL SO COME IN LIKE MANNER as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11). Since He shall come again “in like manner,” certainly we can be sure that His return will be literal, personal, and in bodily form.
c. The apostles told of His coming. Paul (1 Thessalonians 4:14-18), Peter (2 Peter 3),John (1 John 3:2), and others, talked about this event in such a matter-of-fact way as to leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that they fully expected His coming again (even in their own lifetimes). Biblical scholars have determined that approximately one verse out of seven in the apostolic writings deal in some way with the thought of His return.
Just as sure as night follows day. . . just as sure as winter follows summer. . . just so certain can we be of His literal, visible return.
2. BUT WHAT WILL BE THE PURPOSE OF HIS COMING?
There are several Scriptural reasons why Jesus Christ will come again in the clouds of glory:
a. He is coming for His own. One only need look at world conditions today to see that men are frightened, bewildered and panicky. There is a sense of looming dread-a feeling that some great climatic event is close at hand. This is borne out in Romans 8:22: “For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” In verse 23 of the same chapter, Paul indicates that even believers live in constant expectation of this future occurrence: “And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Paul is talking about the glorification of the saints at Christ’s appearing. Paul also speaks about this event in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, “Behold I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump; for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” The fact that the “dead in Christ” (and those believers who are “alive” at the time of the Lord’s coming) will be “caught up” and will “ever be with the Lord” is dramatically unfolded to us in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17: “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air; and so shall we ever be with the Lord.”
b. He is coming to reign. After the “Judgment Seat of Christ” in heaven (Romans 14: 10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10) and the Great Tribulation on earth (Matthew 24:15-26), the Bible speaks of the second phase of Christ’s return, in which He will come with His saints to reign here on earth for a thousand years (Revelation 19:11-16 and Matthew 24:27-30). In Revelation 20:2 the Scripture speaks of this future millennial reign of Christ on earth, in which it says that the devil will be bound and cast into a bottomless pit for a thousand years; and during this time the church and those who have been martyred for the cause of Christ shall reign with Him (verse 4 and 6). While there is practical agreement among believers concerning the fact of the reign of Christ, yet concerning the nature of His reign, especially with reference to the order of events immediately following His second advent, there is a wide difference of opinion.
c. He is coming to judge the world. The Apostle Paul says that when Christ will be revealed from heaven it will be to take “vengeance upon them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). In the Olivet discourse, Jesus made it very plain that when He comes again, all the nations of the earth will be gathered before Him, “And he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats” (Matthew 25:32). To the sheep on His right hand, He will say: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34); but to the goats on His left hand, He will declare: “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 24:41). Clearly one of the purposes of Christ’s Second Coming is to judge the world.
3. AND WHEN DID YOU SAY HE’S COMING?
“But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels who are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is” (Mark 13:32-33). There has been much speculation over the years as to when Christ is coming again. From time to time, people have sold their possessions and gone to wait for His coming on a mountainside. But Jesus made it very plain that we are not to set dates, but rather that we are to “occupy” (be busy and do business as usual) until He comes (Luke 19:13). Paul, in writing to the Thessalonians, attempted to correct some erroneous theories about the time of Christ’s Second Coming. Some of the Thessalonians thought His coming was so near that daily work was no longer necessary, while others feared that if it were delayed, death would rob them of their friends. Paul assured them that the time is unknown and that they didn’t need as much instruction about the time of the event, as encouragement assuring them that when Christ does come, all the saved ones will be caught up to meet the Lord. Jesus said: “This know, that if the goodman of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and not have suffered his house to be broken through. Be ye therefore ready also: for the Son of man cometh at an hour when ye think not” (Luke 12:39-40).
4. YOU MENTIONED THAT THERE ARE SOME SIGNS OF HIS COMING?
Yes, the Bible gives us many forewarnings (or signs) which point to Christ’s Second Coming. The list is quite extensive, but we will name only a few:
a. People will be deeply engrossed in the things of: this world. “But as the days of Noah were, so shall. also the coming of the Son of man be. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage…so shall also the coming of the son of man be” (Matthew 24:37-39). People’s eyes will be so blinded with material wealth and fame and pleasure and power, that they will pay no attention to the biblical warnings concerning Christ’s coming.
b. The Gospel will be preached to all the world. “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14). The Gospel message is being preached today in every corner of the globe, thus signifying the imminent return of the Lord. The advent of the radio has probably contributed more to the worldwide spread of the Gospel than any one other means of communication.
c. There will be incense natural occurrences. In His Olivet discourse (Matthew 24), Jesus speaks of famines (much of the world’s population is starving or underfed today); pestilences (farmers and fruit-growers can all testify to the fact that pestilences abound today, and thus most crops need to be sprayed to yield worthwhile results); earthquakes (the number of earthquakes increased from 147 in the fourteenth century to well over two thousand in the nineteenth century–and in the twentieth century, the Department of the Interior reports that the earth is constantly quaking, thus making it impossible to count the number of earthquakes).
d. There will be apostasy in the church. “Let no man deceive you by any means; for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first” (2 Thessalonians 2:3). One need not be blind today to see in many churches a deliberate departure from Biblical tenets (in the pulpit as well as in the pew). A luke-warm, watered-down “social gospel” is being proclaimed by many of today’s ministers, while terms such as “conversion”, “regeneration”,”the new birth,” “sanctification,” and “separation,” are cast aside and become alien to many church members. This apostasy is a definite sign of Christ’s soon return.
e. There will be deception and false Christs. “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many” (Matthew 24:5). Has there ever been a day when people were so confused and deceived because of the host of false teachers and erroneous doctrines afloat? Remember that Jesus said, “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21). How we need to covet the gifts of wisdom and the discernment of spirits in these last days!
f. There will be a restoration and awakening in Israel. The fact of Israel’s budding forth and becoming a nation in 1948 (and the continuing return of the Jews to Palestine) shows that the Lord’s return is close at hand. Jesus said: “When the fig tree (Israel) putteth forth her leaves, ye know that summer is nigh” (Matthew 24:32). Keep your eyes on Israel in light of the prophetic Scriptures!
g. There will be increased knowledge and travel. Daniel 12:4 says: “Many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased.” There need be no explanation at this point, since we are all aware that the earth now seems to be a small sphere in comparison to what it was seventy-five years ago. And by the time a new history book comes off the press, it is already outdated with regard to modes of travel. These signs are a further indication that we are at the threshold of Christ’s Second Coming.
h. They will cry peace and safety. 2 Thessalonians 5:3 says that “When they shall say, Peace and safety: then sudden destruction cometh upon them.” In this age of peace conferences and peace organizations (in the midst of preparations for war), who can deny that these signs all point to His approaching return?
5. SO WHAT AM I TO DO IN LIGHT OF HIS COMING?
The keynote of our Saviour’s instruction (in connection with the signs of His coming) was BE READY! And to be ready for that event necessitates the “new birth” experience. Jesus Said in John 3:3: “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” With a great work ahead, and with only limited time, and with an urge to improve present opportunities, we “must work the works of him that sent us, while it is day: (for) the night cometh when no man can work” (John 9:4). And having assured ourselves that we are “born again” and are “working the works of him that sent us,” let us “be steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Corinthians 15:58).
I am indebted to A.B. Simpson for a profound statement he once made concerning Christ’s Second Coming. He said, “There are two ways of looking at the Lord’s Coming: a looking for it and a looking at it.” It is possible to look at it with keen intellect and profound interest, and yet have it mean nothing to us personally. It is also possible to know but little of the theology of the subject, and yet have a deep and holy longing for our Lord to appear. May this theme be not only our study but also our personal hope; for “unto them that look for him shall he appear a second time without: sin unto salvation” (Hebrews 9:28).
BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH!